Intro – Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3
Despite the previous post, Athletic Brewery has not been the only place I’ve been trying. Luckily for me, in the past few months some of the local shops have been getting more and more variety of NA Beer, making it easy to try. Even one of our local pubs has started to carry a good selection of NA Beer, adding to their already impressive list.
I’ve noticed that the beers that tend to do well are doing one of two things:
- They are going out on their own and not trying to be a direct replacement for a specific alcoholic brand
- The fruity/sour/wheat beer types, where another, non-beer flavor was usually a strong component of the taste.
The strong IPAs tend to work as well, but as I’m not as into hoppy beers as I used to be, they weren’t usually my favorites.
Bravus
Bravus Brewing was started in 2015 and says it is the first non-alcoholic craft brewery. There were four staples when I found Bravus, and I tried three of them.
West Coast IPA (>%0.5)
This is hoppy. Well made, and mostly good. There is a little gap in flavor (hollow in the middle, my wife said), but overall I appreciated it for tasting like a hoppy beer—but it wasn’t for me.
Blood Orange IPA (>%0.5)
This is mostly the West Coast IPA with some citrus. Again, if IPAs are your thing, this has a good strong hoppy flavor and the orange helps fill in some of the gap in the original.
Peanut Butter Dark (>%0.5)
This one was good. Very much like the Sweet Baby Jesus from DuClaw Brewing. Sweet and chocolate, it is a desert beer for sure.
Wellbeing
Wellbeing has my favorite labels of all of these. I know we aren’t supposed to judge a book by its label, but still. As ambers and wheat beers are some of my favorites, this brewery hits home with some great drinks.
I noticed some new ones I hadn’t tried yet on their site when I was writing this, so more beers are in the mail and will post how they are in the future.
Hellraiser Dark Amber (>%0.5)
Great name. Great label. Great beer. Slightly bitter amber, but still on the lighter side.
Victory Citrus Wheat (>%0.5)
This is the stuff. A solid wheat beer with a citrus addition, it even has electrolytes. Magic in a can, highly enjoyed this one.
Wandering Islands (>%0.5)
This is a collaboration between Wellbeing and 4 Hands Brewery. It is a good summer ale. Think somewhere between a Longboard and a Magic Hat # 9. A pale ale with some notes of mango, and peach, I highly recommend. I don’t think this one is for sale anymore, but hopefully they bring it again this summer.
Southern Grist Brewing
Southern Grist is out of Nashville and a hybrid brewery, meaning it makes both regular and unleaded beers. I’ve only had one of theirs, but am keeping an eye out for more.
Parallel (>%0.5)
This is a fruited sour, passion fruit and raspberry and is crisp and sweet with that sour finish the name implies. A great fruited sour beer! I’ve introduced a few people to NA beers using this one!
Next Time
Untitled Art, more sours! This one random German beer I found!
